Thread: Targeting a Specific Area

I haven't been paying attention to the SEO of my site recently because I have been pretty busy, but my rankings have been starting to fall a little, so I'm going to get back on it. I work out of Grand Rapids, MI, but only mow on the NE side because I am trying to keep really tight routes. Should I continue to target the whole city of Grand Rapids as a whole, and ignore the calls that are not from my area, or is there a way to target my specific area?

Most searchers just use "city, keyword"- so targeting the entire city is wise. So use the the city name, suburbs you work in, neighborhoods you serve. All of that is great for local SEO.

Exactly. If you really want to hyper-target, create pages targeting each of those. Also, keep in mind that, unless you turn it off, Google search uses your location to help deliver relevant results. To see what impact this has, just search "lawn care" - with no city/state identifier. Now, search again with the standard city mods. Compare, contrast, and understand them.

Now, take a minute and digest all the ins and outs of what that means. It's pretty powerful stuff that, quite honestly, 99% of people don't pay attention to. So, if you want to target homes around your house/preferred service area, you should be targeting those very specific areas.

Quote:

Originally Posted by headz77

Don't ignore the people from other areas. Is there someone you can refer them to? Maybe someone who could throw some leads your way as well?

This is a great way to build local, industry relationships. Now, please don't ask how much you can sell them for. lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by headz77

Get as many eyeballs as possible then figure how to take advantage of it. That's what I try to do anyways!

Headz is just getting downright spooky with his local SEO skillz. There is no such thing as bad, local traffic. You can always do nothing with it or utilize it when you'd like to, such as for expansion. It's much harder to turn it on whenever you'd like, so if it's coming to you, figure something out to do with it.

Google is pretty good at returning search results for very minute details. I know an LCO just across the interstate from me but still very close. He gets a lot of calls that make sense for his location and I the same. Google uses our physical addresses to separate search engine results that are very precise to the optimal areas that we would service.

It is very important to list your site and build citations with consistent and accurate name, address, and phone details. The more Google can trust these signals the better it will be able to pinpoint a better fit for the searchers intent.